Compass Elements
by Hilary-O
Summary: The royal family of each point of the compass in Japan can control an element. When two opposing forces fall in love, what are you to do? Rated 'T' for now...might change story, so add me fav authors. Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

**Ages of children**

**Miroku: 26 male**

**Kagome: 16 female**

**Hitomi: 25 female**

**Rin (F) & Sota (M): 14 **

**Kikyo: 22 female**

**Akago: 14 months Male**

**Note: Kagome and her family live on Hokkaido Island**

"Children, now it is time for the story," Said Koichi, as he set his napkin down.

Said children all looked at each other and sighed.

"The land of Japan is split into four parts. The north, the south, the east and, the west. The south is controlled by Lady Mariko Nakano. The west by Inutaisho Nakajima. The east is ruled by our friend, Minoru Ueda. And our great family Higurashi rules the northern lands. Each royal family can control a different element. North, fire; South, water; East, air; West, earth. In order for our land to prosper, each element must be balanced with one another."

"Yes father, we know" said Miroku, as he idly snapped his fingers and put out the candle in the middle of the table.

"Stop that!" snapped Rie, as she swatted her sons' hand. He snapped his fingers again, and relit the candle.

The old patriarch continued his speech after giving his large family an evil eye. "I was the son of Masaso, who was the son Kazuo, who was the first King of the north. I have seven children. Miroku, my eldest son, and heir to all that I own. Hitomi, who is now wife of Usagi, has twin sons on the way. Kikyo, who is the head miko of our household, is very powerful. Kagome, who is fourth eldest, is so too young to do anything yet, but she is very deadly with a katana. Next comes Rin and Sota, who are twins, but are only fourteen years old. But they sure do pack a punch in hand to hand combat. Then there is the newest addition to our family, baby Akago. "

"I think father has had too much of uncle Eiji's wine," said Sota and Rin in unison as they finished eating their fried noodles.

The old man just looked at them, then at their mother, Rie.

"Children, your excused to your rooms. New years only comes once a year and it's the only time we all ever get together. I would think that I had risen you well enough that you would polite enough to listen to your father tell a story," Rie was not happy with her children.

"Sorry…" said all the children with their heads hung low. They then dutifully stood up and bowed.

"You're excused," said Rie, since her husband had already left the table to go finish up some business in the library. "And Sota, fix your haori. Your sash is coming undone."

Sota glanced down at his shirt and quickly ran up to his room so that his mother could not nag him anymore.

Kagome's POV:

Instead of going to my room like my mother wanted, I went to the stables, where my horse was. I just called her Uma since she was a horse after all.

When I got there I saw that the stable boy, Shippo was there.

"Hi Shippo, how are you?" I asked, although I did not look at him.

"I'm fine. I just found out that I am being transferred with Hitomi back to her home farther south. This salty sea weather is not good for kitsunes. I am moving with Hitomi down to Sunagawa"

"That's too bad. I just love living here on the coast." I answered. But I never stopped petting Uma.

"That's odd. I just thought that people who can control fire would want to be as far away from water as possible."

"Well that's the good thing about water. It dampens my abilities; this way, I don't have to worry that my dormant powers will hurt anyone. Did you know that Rie is not my mother? My father had an affair with a lady at court. But she died in child birth, so he took me in, and gave me her lands," I told him.

"No, I didn't know that. Is that why you live in Muroran for most of the year?" he asked me.

"Yes. My mother was Lady Masako. She was very wealthy, but her father sent her to my fathers' court, so she would stop acting like a country bumpkin."

"I'm sorry milady, but I have to go. I need to feed some more horses," Shippo told me before bowing and leaving.

When I got back inside, I found my half brother, Miroku waiting for me.

"Kagome, I want you to know that id you don't feel like going back to Muroran, you are always welcome to come and stay with me in Abashiri," he offered, his three golden earrings and log black hair making him look kingly.

"That's alright. I don't think I am going to go back for a while. I am going to ask father if maybe I could accompany him on his trip to Inutaisho's lands. What do you think?" I asked, while fiddling with the katana at my side that signified my power in this land.

"Hmm… I think it's a good idea. You need to know the other lords since you are a lady of the north, unlike Kikyo and Rin, who are only princess's. They will spend their lives without knowing how the world is. But you were born as both a princess and a lady. Doubly royal. My own mother was not royalty. She was the daughter of a village chief."

I thought about it for a second. He was right. "Your right. I am going to go talk to father right now. I now he is planning on leaving in the morning. Miroku, will you go tell Sango that I need her to wait for me in my room?" I asked him.

"Of course. Any chance that I get to talk to your lovely lady in waiting is a miracle for me. Go talk to father before he falls asleep."

I smiled at him, picked up my kimono so that I could run faster, and took off. I could hear his laughs echoing down the corridor after me.

When I got to my fathers personal study/ library, I straightened my kimono, and knocked on the door.

"Enter!" he boomed from inside.

I opened the door and slipped inside. I was instantly comforted by the smell of ink and old book leather.

"Daughter," was all he said when he looked up at me, as I stood before his desk, my hands clasped together.

"Father, I have a favor to ask you."

"…You want to come with me on my trip tomorrow? Am I right?" he asked me.

"I want to come with you."

"I already had planned on it. Sango is in your room right now, packing your belongings, and getting your sister Rin ready as well. She is going to come along too. A sort of vacation before she goes to King Minoru Ueda's wife as a lady in waiting."

Rin was without a doubt my favorite sister. Kikyo was a snobbish witch who was too interested in the dark arts. Hitomi was already a teenager when I took my first step. So Rin was definitely the sister I felt most close with since she was only two years younger than me. All of my fathers' children had black hair and blue eyes, except Miroku, who had purple eyes. We all were very good at fighting, and could kill a demon in split seconds.

"I would be glad to go. Why didn't you tell me earlier though?" I asked, somewhat angry that if I had not asked to go, he would have taken me by force.

"I knew you would procrastinate until the last moment to ask me to go. Oh Kagome, you are just like your mother was when she was alive…" he mumbled, his voice trailing off.

"Father, what was my mother like?" I asked him as I stared at the ground.

"She was a beauty. Black hair that was cut so that it only reached her shoulders, and beautiful doe brown eyes that a soul could get lost in. She was so kind. She hated having servants, just like you. Always was independent to an insane degree."

I smiled at him. He usually would not talk about my mother, but sometimes he would tell me about her. Rie was nice enough, but she always held me at arms length because I was the product of a woman that almost ended her marriage with my father. The rumor at court had been that my mother had been a witch, and had spelled him into bedding her. It was not true though. My father had told me in private that it was her smile that had made him fall in love with her.

"Well back to the point, I would like to have you go with me to the western lands. I want you to have some fun before you start taking over your responsibilities at Muroran. I think that this trip will be good for you and Rin."

"Why isn't Sota accompanying us as well?" I asked, slightly concerned that his feelings would be hurt.

"He did not want to." replied Koichi "He wanted to go with Miroku to Abashiri. He says that he wants to learn how to fight like his big brother…or something…"

I smiled inwardly at my brothers antics. He was always very flighty and unpredictable.

"Kagome, I want you to spend an hour tonight practicing that new move for using fire. The one where you use the fire through your sword."

"Yes father. Good night Father," Was all I said before I bowed and walked out of the room. I headed towards the stables so get Uma, so that I could go down to the beach, even though light was waning. I found that it was better to practice my fire bending around water. _Maybe Miroku was right. Both of my parents have royal blood, so that would explain why my fire bending gets out of control so easily…_

"Kagome!" I heard Rin yelling for me, as I stood on the beach, doing forms with my katana, shooting fire into the sand dunes.

"Yes Rin?"

"Sango told me to come and get you. She said she needs you to decide what to take." She replied breathlessly, her orange and red kimono wrinkled, leading me to believe she had been riding her horse, and had been caught by Sango.

"Alright. Want to ride Uma with me?" I asked, knowing that Rin felt very close to the horse.

"Really?!" she shouted, her eyes glistening.

I nodded, sheathed my katana, swung myself up onto Uma, and pulled Rin up in front of me. "Are you excited about coming with father and me? I know that this will be your first time traveling."

"I cant wait to leave. Sota is leaving, so I might as well. Its going to be hard leaving him for the first time though. We have always been together. I'm just glad that Kikyo is not coming along…"

We both laughed all the way back to the palace. When we got there, we found Sango there with an angry aura.

Sango was a demon slayer that was 17 years old. She was practically royalty, but could not wield fire. She came from my province, and had been with me since I was born, after I was born I stayed in Muroran, taken care of by Sango's father and mother.

I had only been taken to Wakkanai at the age of eight, and my best friend Sango came along with me as my lady in waiting.

"Kagome! How could you just wander off like that? I was worried sick. First you don't come back to your room along with everyone else, then that perverted older brother, the monk, comes along and says that you wanted to wait for you here. Then I was here waiting and guess what? YOU NEVR CAME!!" Sango had her hands up in the air, and was waving them about wildly.

"Sango, calm down. I had my sword with me and Uma. There was no need to worry…" I said, trying to placate her.

She still looked mad, but let it go apparently, because ten seconds later she turned around and started asking Kagome what she wanted to pack for the three week trip. Rin stood there for a few seconds looking mildly uncomfortable, and then left the room, a grin on her face.

"Sango, I want all of my clothing with the northern crest on it. The western lord needs to be reminded every so often who his greatest enemy could be."

"There you go again making political statements…" Sango grumbled. As a child, Kagome had constantly made known her opinions on matters of state. Her father would even sit her near old political windbags during court events, so that she could argue with them. Koichi thought it was hilarious.

"I'm going to bed. I will see you in the morning" was all I said, before I took off my kimono and slipped on my white silk night gown.

The next morning, Sango woke me up later than usual.

"Morning. Get dressed in this kimono, and eat this roll. I was so busy getting everything ready for our departure, which meant that I forgot to wake you up." Said Sango, handing me a green and white traveling kimono that was very comfortable and thick. Travel during the winter was hard and cold, so most clothing was thick and made of fur.

So I did as she told me and dressed in the kimono (think Eskimos), while stuffing the roll into my mouth. Sango was already dressed in an outfit similar to mine, except it was a green and pink. She also had her customary boomerang strapped to her back.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied "let's go!"

When we got downstairs to the courtyard, father was waiting with a large entourage. Apparently Rin and I would share a carriage with our father while Sango would ride on Uma. Most of the servants were riding horses or walking. There were about 15 soldiers who were guarding us.

The trip itself would probably take about four days. They were leaving Wakkanai and would travel to a small village on the Tsugaru Strait, where a ferry would take them to the mainland. After that they would travel as fast as they could on horseback towards lord Inutasiho's citadel which was deep in a forest.

After two days of travel, everyone was at each others throats. I was so sick of Rins' ceaseless chatter that I actually told her to shut her trap. Father had planned on doing paperwork, but changed his mind. He decided that this was the perfect chance to get to know his daughters. Said daughters were not so thrilled about the development. One of the reasons that they were not happy about their fathers' new interest in their lives was the fact that he was constantly asking questions about them all the time. 'What's your favorite flower?', 'Where do you like to sleep in your bed; left or right side?', or 'Do you like miso soup?' it was all very annoying to his two teenage daughters.

Finally they had crossed the strait, only after finding out that Kagome had a little problem with sea sickness.

All in all, nothing particularly interesting happened during the journey. A few sister on sister fights, but otherwise, the trip was perfectly peaceful.

"Wow…" was all Rin could say when she saw King Inutaisho's palace.

"Yeah…" was all I could say. It was a magnificent castle. White stone made everything, and there was ivy growing over every spare inch of the surrounding back wall. There were seven tiers, and the whole place was backed up against a cliff. It looked as if there was a whole city inside the walls.

"This girlsis Howaido Ganpo; home of Inutaisho and his two sons."

I was in shock of the city. There was nothing to rival it in Hokkaido.

"You two will have to ride in litters into the palace. I need the carriage. I want you two to go with the guards to the kings' palace at the top of the cliff. I have to go to the castle outpost. So go with the guards and be good. Alright?" asked father, as he climbed into the carriage, and motioned for two litters to be brought by the guards and servants.

"Yes father. We will behave," Rin said, before climbing into her litter.

I followed suit, and hopped in with the help of my personal guard.

The city was even more amazing on the inside than the outside. Colorful awnings shaded every door step, and there was market stalls placed all along the road. They sold things ranging from baked bread to black pears from the southern seas. Rin made the entire entourage stop once because she wanted to buy a small neko demon that she named Hanna.

I myself found the city to be quite boring after you saw past the bustling hubbub that was this place. I had to amuse myself by snapping my fingers over and over again, seeing how long I could sustain the flame without feeling somewhat diminished.

Eventually we reached the seventh tier, the place seemingly glistening with white marble and cherry trees.

All of a sudden a squat green toad demon came running towards us from the grand doors that lead into the presumable courtyard.

"Jeeps, we are only here for a second, and already he is sending out the welcoming committee. Interesting…" I said to Rin, before gracefully getting out of the litter and helping Rin out of hers.

"Hello lady Kagome and Rin of the northern lands. I am known as Jaken, lowly servant of the Taisho family. Please allow me to lead you too the Grand Hall where Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Inuyasha will welcome you."

"Please do. But could you please tell me whether your lord has invited me to stay in your home, or should we send our servants and guards to an inn?" I asked, taking control of the situation.

"I am afraid I don't know lady. You may bring them into the courtyard for the time being though," said the toad.

"Very well." Said Kagome regally before climbing up the palace stairs, Rin beside her, guards behind her, and her future ahead of her.

I Probably wont update this story often since I have so many others to work on. But please enjoy what I do write! And check out my other stories! 

Ja ne!


	2. Chapter 2

Kagome and Rin walked through the arched stone door and into the Grand Hall with their chins held high. They both surreptitiously surveyed the clothing of the ladies and men in the room and smirked at their traditional fashions. The women all wore twelve layered kimonos with masks of white paint across their faces. Their hair was grandly styled with gaudy golden accessories.

The girls both preferred their own attire greatly to the formal clothing of the western court. Both wore simple red and orange kimonos with splashes of blue across the obi's, symbolizing the heat of flames. Their hair was braided tightly to their scalps and wound around their head creating black crowns. Their only jewelry was silver combs delicately placed at the base of their crowns. The simple look was elegant, and yet had the contemporary feel of the fashions most popular at the Northern Court.

The men wore the general clothing of lords; baggy hakama with tightly fitting haori. The colors ranged from the deepest browns to lightest greens. There was no coordination of colors, a surprise for the court of the notably particular lord Sessshomaru.

Kagome and Rin walked confidently towards the raised dais. Rin trailed notably behind her sister, respecting her higher position, and bringing it to the attention of the gathered nobles. They noticed and surmised this must the infamous katana wielding princess, Kagome. She was the only daughter of Koichi that would have been accepted as heir to the North with no questions asked, since Koichi's mate was the daughter of a peasant, while Kagome's mother had been ancient royalty in her own right. Kagome was descended from great blood.

Upon the dais, Inutaisho watched the princess's arrival with interest. Neither was formally gowned or wore the makeup that was common among ladies of court. He was not surprised though. The north was known for its fashions and simple lifestyles, in favor of a strong military and widespread education. The girl Kagome was known for her brilliance with her magical abilities. Rin was known only for being Koichi's youngest daughter and a prize in the marriage field.

His sons stood on either side of him, with Inuyasha a step below Sesshomaru to show his eldest sons status as heir. Inuyasha showed no interest in the girls, preferring to examine his claws. Sesshomaru's eyes were trained on the girls however. Inutaisho knew that look; it was the look of someone who saw a perceived weakness and had every intention of exploiting it.

As Kagome and Rin reached the dais, they bowed gracefully and stood at full height, neither showing fear as most humans would have.

"Welcome beloved allies! We of the Western Court have waited for you arrival with anticipation. Pray, how was your journey?" Inutaisho asked as he stood from his chair and walked down the steps to kiss the hands of his allies' daughters.

Kagome quickly withdrew her hand from the silver-haired youkai, as did Rin. Both were uncomfortable with touching him, aware of the effect soil had on flames.

"Our journey was fine. We were caught in a storm on the coast, but none of our party was injured and the waters helped to hasten our arrival. We thank you for your invitation and hope that our visit will be most fruitful for both of our lands." Kagome bowed and motioned Rin forward Inutaisho was surprised at how the sisters interacted.

"Allow me to introduce ourselves; I am Kagome, Lady of Muroran. This is my sister, Princess Rin. This is her first time traveling away from Wakkanai and my first time away from Hokkaido."

Sesshomaru mentally scoffed at the two women, finding neither worthy of his time. They were just another pair of country girls with no class or memorable traits.

"We are so glad that you chose our home to visit. Is the Princess Rin not soon traveling to the East to wait on the Lady Ueda?" Inutaisho asked, remember the detail from a letter Koichi had written.

Rin finally spoke up and said "It is so Inutaisho-sama. I will be traveling there after our time here and staying with my sister Hitomi, who is married to the Prince Usagi."

Inutaisho nodded and shifted his eyes to Kagome, who returned his stare with raised eyebrows. She had no reason to be submissive to this man. They were equal in standing and she had no interest in the court games. Her purpose here was to obtain knowledge of the economy and government within the Western lands.

"Well for now, I assume you are weary after your trip. Please feel free to have your things brought inside and we shall set you up in the North wing of the palace, as is correct. Please follow my aide, Jaken. He will be your guide throughout your visit. You are invited to dinner of course. Jaken will inform you of its time and place. Have a good afternoon ladies." With a final bow to Kagome and Rin, Inutaisho left the hall, followed by his sons who gave short little bows, neither saying a word.

Kagome and Rin were once again escorted outside the Great Hall into the courtyard, were Sango was waiting for the girls. Their servants gathered their belongings and followed their mistresses into a different wing of the palace, noticing its high quality and beauty compared to the North.


End file.
